Site Mobile Navigation

College Leadership Draws State's Criticism

ALFRED, N.Y. - A college president accused by her faculty and staff of retaliatory firings and intimidation has been urged to change her leadership style in a report by state education officials after a three-month investigation.

In December a team of officials from the State University of New York system visited Alfred State College to review complaints that the president, Dr. Uma G. Gupta, had fired or forced out longtime administrators, alienated donors and hurt morale, slowing progress at this small college in the Allegany region.

The school, with about 3,000 students, is one of five technology colleges in the SUNY system and is distinct from Alfred University, which is also here and has an acclaimed fine arts program in ceramics.

The report cited widespread complaints of "retaliatory firings, intimidation, threats and abuse" by Dr. Gupta. She has argued that she has made tough, unpopular decisions but has led the campus with integrity, not "hit lists."

The unrest began shortly after Dr. Gupta arrived in August 2003, when she began overhauling the top administration. John Anderson, a vice president who worked at Alfred for 22 years and had been a candidate for college president, was fired shortly after she arrived.

"In our first meeting on Tuesday she told me I had done a great job, she wanted me to stay and she asked for a long-term commitment," Mr. Anderson said. "I think it was because I wouldn't say yes -- because no one has asked that of me before -- that, that Thursday, she told me to clean my office and go home."

Within the next year, about two-dozen other top staff members quit, were fired or were asked to resign. Douglas J. Barber, a dean in the school of Management and Engineering Technology, said he was asked to resign in early 2004 after 38 years for being "loud and brash."

He said the engineering school was the most successful among the college's schools in an effort to expand from a two-year to a four-year institution. That move led to a 43 percent increase in enrollment at the engineering school, he said, adding, "I just couldn't communicate with her."

Other staff members reported that they believed their work was "under a microscope." Last June some campus staff members started to express their dissent on a Web site, which state leaders said was "symptomatic of the fear and intimidation shadowing the campus."

The firing of Mr. Anderson upset two major donors to the college, Joseph L. Russo, a Buffalo-area businessman and former Alfred student, and the billionaire Tom Golisano, an alumnus whose foundation financed an entrepreneur program at Alfred.

Mr. Golisano said he was no longer considering donations to the college. "She indeed alienated me," Mr. Golisano said of Dr. Gupta. "And a lot of it was because of the way she handled and terminated staff."

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

In 2004, shortly after Mr. Anderson became vice president of academic affairs at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., Mr. Golisano donated $5 million to that college for a Social Science and Management building.

Dr. Gupta said it was a "gross misstatement" to say donations were suffering overall. "All indications are that fund-raising is going up," she said.

Several staff members who supported Dr. Gupta credited her with moving projects forward. Marshelle D. Gillette, the director of Procurement and Payment Services, said Dr. Gupta pushed forward an $11 million student housing project that is to begin this spring.

Joyce E. Weimer, who is the director of International Education, said Dr. Gupta had increased diversity and was stepping up recruitment in Asia and Turkey.

But the actions did not stem the dissent, especially after faculty members had learned that Dr. Gupta faced the same criticisms as dean of the University of Houston's College of Technology.

"The first thing she did was alienate everyone in the program," said Bernard McIntyre, associate professor of engineering technology at Houston. "She spoke down to us."

After her first year in Houston, the faculty and staff under Dr. Gupta gave her a negative review. The next year, in April 2002, they passed a no-confidence vote, hoping to force her resignation. But Dr. Gupta had the support of the Houston school's provost and stayed in her job for another year before taking the post here.

Katy Greenwood, an associate professor at Houston, said in a written statement that a faculty "should never have to experience the vindictive culture that our college, and in fact our entire university, endured from 2002 to 2003."

At Alfred, faculty members were on the verge of holding a no-confidence vote last fall. But SUNY leaders suggested an investigation, the first such inquiry by the state system into one of its colleges since 1993, said David M. Henahan, a spokesman for the university system.

The report, which was made public last week, makes a number of recommendations in the hope of heading off further disruption among faculty and staff members and in "a failed presidency, all at the expense of the state university."